Ninas and Easter Eggs – The Game’s the Thing! by Alys Cummings

 Who can resist the lure of a hidden message?

Solving things, uncovering an answer, is one of the joys of being human – just look at the vast numbers of us drawn to both murder mysteries and puzzles. 

But there’s something that can be even more rewarding than finding the answer which is, after all, the objective of the puzzle or the end of the story. And that is something that you don’t even need to discover, an unannounced extra that has been hidden purely for the fun of it.

In video games and movies, these have long been known as Easter Eggs. (There is a legend that this arises from The Rocky Horror Picture Show where some of its very dedicated fans have spotted actual Easter Eggs rumoured to have been overlooked in an egg hunt organised by cast and crew – perhaps unlikely given the movie was filmed in the Autumn. It’s more commonly accepted the phrase arose from the game Atari where the developer hid a credit to his own name.) 

For solvers of crosswords, these hidden messages abound – you might find one spelt out in an acrostic at the start of clues, in the letters round the edge of a completed grid, or in the words at the top and bottom, for example. Perhaps it’s unsurprising that for people who love playing with words – and whose cryptic setter names are themselves playfully hiding their true identity - they are a fairly common occurrence. Some setters have regular Ninas – such as Pangakupu who frequently hides words and messages in Māori in their puzzles. Well-known examples from the Guardian include a puzzle from the much-loved setter Araucaria, who revealed the news of his late-stage cancer to solvers in a series of clues. And in 2017 those who solved a puzzle by an apparently new setter called the Sphinx discovered they were in fact completing the same puzzle that featured in that evening’s episode of Inside No.9 – The Riddle of the Sphinx. The setter was one of the show’s creators, Steve Pemberton.

In the world of the cruciverbalist these hidden messages are called Ninas, named after the work of American caricaturist Al Hirschfield, who would hide his daughter’s name, Nina, in the lines of his drawings.

In Murder Most Cryptic, my debut novel combining murder mystery with cryptic clues, the protagonist is called Nina – an allusion for crossword fans to enjoy. And there are plenty of other Ninas for readers to find, if they wish to look for them.

In the crosswords that feature in the novel they are used to give additional information about what happened to the man who collapses and dies in Chapter One. These Ninas help the recovery group at the heart of the book begin to piece together what might have happened. But there are also clues from these crosswords at the head of each chapter, with the word that is the answer hidden somewhere in the chapter itself. These are not part of the plot, just something extra for the reader, a treasure hunt if they wish to take part in it. 

One of my Ninas in Murder Most Cryptic is something I haven’t yet revealed – a message hidden in the names of all seven principal characters. I’d love to know if anyone thinks they’ve spotted it….

Readers of Murder Most Cryptic might also spot references – some more obvious than others – to other crime writers they enjoy. The books of some of my favourite authors appear and comments on a blog one of my characters writes gave some freedom to sneak in yet more allusions that readers may recognise.

This is something that authors who find their written work transferring to the screen may also indulge in - a moment of mingling among their own characters for that other type of Easter Egg, a cameo. Who spotted Mick Herron sitting alongside Diana Taverner during a funeral in the latest series of Slow Horses?

It’s a little treat, a surprise, something extra for a mystery lover.

For although a setter or writer can convey a huge range of messages hiding in plain sight, the vital thing about a Nina is that it is not necessary. The solver doesn’t need to spot it to complete the crossword, it’s simply there because it exercised the setter’s mind and they hope it will do the same for the the solver. It’s all just part of the game.

Murder Most Cryptic by Alys Cummings (Penguin Books Ltd)

Nina is a promising young journalist. She’s also an alcoholic. Once a week, she attends a recovery group in the local church hall. When a stranger walks in one night, the group think they might have a new member. Until he promptly drops dead. The police believe it’s nothing more than an accident. But the group soon realise there’s more to this mystery than meets the eye, when they discover a cryptic crossword clue hidden in the dead man’s pocket – the answer to which is Murder. As more mysterious and threatening clues start appearing in a newspaper crossword, Nina and team must work to crack this cryptic case. Can they solve the clues, and catch a killer? Or will the next crossword spell death for one of them…

More information about the author can be found on her website. You can also find her on Instagram and X @alyseliza

American Mystery Classics Collection

Penguin presents timeless reads for slower summers: the American Mystery Classics collection is a chance to revisit the great American crime novels that shaped the genre, perfect for fans of golden age detectives, locked-room stories, and mysteries featuring cats. Curated by Otto Penzler, the world’s foremost authority on crime fiction, the series brings together the smartest, cosiest, most ingenious mysteries of the Golden Age and beyond, newly presented for modern readers

Timeless Reads 

for Slower Summers

14th May 2026        14th May 2026            11th June 2026

             9th July 2026,    17th September 2026  17th September 2026

Discover a collection of forgotten classics – the ultimate suitcase library

 

About the Author

Otto Penzler owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and founded the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler Books. He has written and edited several books, including the Edgar Award-winning Encyclopaedia of Mystery and Detection, and is the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories of the Year.

Penguin Classics Crime and Espionage for 2026

Publishing through 2026, the Penguin Classics Crime and Espionage series brings together landmark works of fiction from across the twentieth century and beyond. Highlights include Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee mystery The Chinese Nail Murders, Dorothy B. Hughes’s noir classic Ride the Pink Horse, Robert Littell’s Cold War thriller The Amateur, and Mai Jia’s international bestseller Decoded. The list also features Giorgio Scerbanenco’s Italian noir Traitors to All, alongside Rear Window and Other Stories, a newly curated Penguin Classics selection of suspense stories by Cornell Woolrich, originally published in the 1930s and 1940s. 

The Chinese Nail Murders by Robert van Gulik (9 July 2026) First published in 1961

Judge Dee returns in one of Robert van Gulik’s strangest and most atmospheric mysteries, set far from the courtly intrigue of Tang China and deep into a ferocious northern wilderness. In a remote, freezing region, a young girl vanishes, jewels are stolen and a brutal beheading shocks the local community. As Dee pulls at the threads, the case begins to circle an unsettling local obsession, the “Seven Board”, a popular game that may be more than a harmless pastime. With its locked room ingenuity and mounting dread, the novel offers all the pleasures of classic puzzle crime while using the harsh landscape and tight knit settlements to heighten the tension. Van Gulik’s Judge Dee novels are celebrated for their vivid historical texture, and this instalment is a particularly rich example, blending clue driven plotting with an immersive sense of place and period.

About the author: Robert van Gulik (1910 to 1967) was a Dutch diplomat and a leading authority on Chinese history and culture, who lived much of his life in the Far East. He wrote sixteen Judge Dee mysteries alongside influential studies of Chinese art and music.

Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes (9 July 2026) First published in 1946

A heat hazed, high pressure noir that shifts the genre out of shadowy alleyways and into the bright glare of the American Southwest. Sailor, a former gangster’s muscle, arrives from Chicago in Santa Fe during Fiesta season with revenge and money on his mind. But the city is packed, the temperature is punishing, and the forces ranged against him are both organised and unpredictable. With nowhere to stay and danger in every crowd, Sailor is pushed into a tightening web of corruption and violence, where survival depends on reading people quickly and striking first. Dorothy B. Hughes turns the usual noir palette inside out, using vivid colour and sunlight to make paranoia feel even sharper. The result is a lean, propulsive thriller that builds dread through constant motion, chance encounters and the sense that the whole town is watching.

About the author: Hughes (born Kansas City, later based in New Mexico) was a journalist and poet who became one of the key voices of American hard-boiled fiction. Several novels were adapted for film, and she was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

The Amateur by Robert Littell (23 July 2026) First published in 1981

A classic Cold War thriller built on a deliciously unnerving premise: what happens when an ordinary man decides to do an extraordinary, violent thing and refuses to be stopped. Charlie Heller is a CIA cryptographer, a quiet specialist in codes and patterns, not fieldcraft. When his beloved fiancée is murdered by terrorists and his superiors choose not to pursue the killers, Heller turns his grief into purpose. He forces his way into the role of avenger, following the trail behind the Iron Curtain and stepping into a world he understands only on paper. Littell’s brilliance is in making Heller’s “amateur” status an advantage as well as a vulnerability. He does not know the rules, but he can see structures others miss, and his enemies underestimate him until it is too late. The novel moves with pace and bite, balancing tradecraft detail with mounting moral stakes, and it remains a sharp, unsettling meditation on bureaucratic cynicism and personal justice.

About the author: Robert Littell (born 1935) is a major American novelist of espionage and Cold War fiction, also known for The Company. The Amateur has been filmed twice, most recently as a major film released in April 2025.

Decoded by Mai Jia (13 August 2026) First published in China in 2002

An international bestselling spy novel that plunges into the secretive world of cryptology and the psychological cost of genius. Rong Jinzhen is a mathematical prodigy, recruited into China’s clandestine Unit 701 to crack “Code Purple”, an enemy cipher so elusive it becomes an obsession. As Jinzhen’s reputation rises, so does the pressure: the work is isolating, the stakes are national, and the line between brilliance and breakdown begins to blur. What starts as a triumph narrative becomes something darker, a descent into paranoia and mental unravelling as the act of decoding becomes a metaphor for power, secrecy and the limits of the human mind. Mai Jia writes from intimate knowledge of intelligence culture, giving the novel an unusual authenticity and a strong sense of Chinese social texture across decades. The result is both a gripping thriller and a portrait of a man consumed by the very talent that makes him indispensable. Decoded was first published in China in 2002 and became a phenomenon.

About the author: Mai Jia (pseudonym of Jiang Benhu) is one of China’s most awarded and bestselling writers, often credited as a key moderniser of Chinese espionage fiction.

Traitors to All by Giorgio Scerbanenco (3 September 2026) Originally published in Italian in 1966

A landmark of Italian noir and a defining case for Duca Lamberti, Scerbanenco’s doctor turned detective with a hard-earned moral core. One spring evening outside Milan, a Fiat carrying two passengers plunges into a canal. The deaths are initially filed as an accident, but Lamberti notices the pattern: the canal has claimed others, and the circumstances feel staged. His investigation points to a respectable lawyer with a murky history stretching back to the Second World War, and to an uncomfortable personal link, the man once shared a prison cell with Lamberti. Winner of the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 1968, the novel is both a razor tight mystery and a social portrait of “swinging sixties” Milan, where prosperity sits uneasily atop old wounds, compromised loyalties and opportunism. Scerbanenco’s writing is brisk, street level and unsentimental, exposing how violence and betrayal thread through every class. It is a gripping, morally charged thriller that helps explain why Scerbanenco is often called the father of Italian noir.

About the author: Born in Kiev in 1911, Scerbanenco moved to Italy young and settled in Milan as a teenager. After early romance fiction, he pioneered a distinctly Italian crime style, with many adaptations for film. He is best known for the Milan Quartet.

Rear Window and Other Stories by Cornell Woolrich (1 October 2026) Stories first appeared individually in the 1930s–1940s.

Nine superb crime stories from one of the twentieth century’s great masters of suspense and the lethal plot twist. The collection includes the tale that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, in which an injured, housebound man becomes convinced he has witnessed a murder and must investigate without ever leaving his apartment. Elsewhere, Woolrich pushes ordinary people into extraordinary corners: an accidental killer improvises a grotesque hiding place for a body just as the landlord starts showing the room to prospective tenants; an innocent youth accused of murder flees, only to discover an unnerving talent for crime. Woolrich’s gift is acceleration: he takes a simple premise, tightens the screws with plausible obstacles, and then swivels the reader into a new, darker understanding at exactly the right moment. These stories show why he was so influential on film and fiction alike, and why his work remains a touchstone for psychological suspense. This selection follows the success of the Crime and Espionage edition of his novel I Married a Dead Man and offers an ideal entry point for new readers, while giving collectors a concentrated dose of his best short form work.

About the author: Cornell Woolrich (1903 to 1968) was a hugely admired American crime writer whose work inspired numerous films including Rear Window, Phantom Lady and The Bride Wore Black. He lived a notoriously difficult life and became a recluse in later years.

My Random Route to Becoming a Crime Thriller Writer by S. M. Govett

 

My debut crime thriller, BELIEVE, is out with Penguin Michael Joseph on 19^th June and I couldn’t be more excited. I haven’t exactly followed a direct route to this moment, but I don’t regret the meandering path I’ve taken as I’ve learnt something important from each venture along the way.

I began my adult life studying law at Oxford. It was a fascinating degree and I loved it. It was all about ideas and thought experiments – what the law should be, the impact of particular cases, the extent to which individual liberties were and should be curtailed. It suited my argumentative nature and taught me self-reliance. The course was entirely tutorial-based and essentially self-taught. We’d get a reading list and an essay title and then have to produce and be ready to defend a piece by the following week. Writing is similarly a completely self-motivated business. You need that internal discipline and drive, or you’ll never finish a book, and this really laid the foundations for that. My degree also honed my ability to structure my writing, because each week I had to formulate a robust argument that could withstand my tutor’s attempts to tear it apart. Crime and thriller novels are so plot heavy, you need that solid structure, to know exactly how all the strands tie together and how changing one element will impact everything else.

On graduating, I joined a big City law firm as that’s what everyone did and they’re the ones who offer the most money. It might sound basic, but twenty-one-year-olds generally are, and I was no exception. But I knew from the moment I beeped in through those turnstiles that this wasn’t the career for me. There was no discussion of ideas, no debate about what the law should be. It was just business. Very much download and amend this standard form contract and stay here all night if you need to. However, I met some fun people, and learnt work efficiency – we had to account for and bill every 6 minute chunk of the day – and this means that as a writer I can instantly click into writing mode. There’s no gazing out the window, I’m focused, immersed, from the moment I sit at my desk, even if it means I burn out three hours later! I also learnt how to write an accurate lawyer character for BELIEVE – bonus!

I stuck it out at the law firm until I qualified and then I left and did random, ridiculous things for a year as a sort of late-onset teen rebellion. I designed t-shirts that I sewed on my sofa – Jordan (now, Katie Price) actually wore one on the front cover of OK! magazine to celebrate her engagement to Peter Andre – and this taught me the art of the cold sell. That ability to swallow your pride and go and stick your neck out and promote yourself. There are fewer scarier things I’ve ever done than walk into high-end shops unannounced and ask if they’d like to buy my t-shirts. This experience has stood me in good stead now that I’m trying to promote my book. I’ve managed to eradicate my embarrassment reflex and talking to booksellers doesn’t phase me at all.

In my absurd year I also did some modelling. Which might sound glamorous and exciting, but it really wasn’t. I did shows in London, Athens and Chicago but most of it was hanging around, getting really, really bored and then being judged on my looks alone and having them discussed and dissected as if I weren’t even present. It taught me that whatever I did with my life, it had to involve using my brain. And the time I now spend writing in my attic, in an old sweatshirt, conjuring up worlds and characters, is a hundred times more exciting than prancing about on a runway in a lace catsuit ever was.

When that year came to an end, I decided I needed to grow up. I started doing private tutoring and ended up setting up my own agency. I really enjoyed it. It’s such a privilege to be able to work one-on-one with a student and see the exponential progress they can make, that lightbulb moment when it all clicks together for them. However, I also saw just how stressful lots of young people find our examination-based education system and this gave me the idea for my first YA book: The Territory. When my daughter was born, I decided to have a go at writing it. I was taking 6 months’ maternity leave anyway, so while she slept, I wrote. She was a rubbish sleeper, so it took a while, but I loved every moment and was lucky enough to end up with an initial three-book deal.

Writing YA was excellent preparation for writing thrillers. Teens have such limited attention spans, so you have to hook them in quickly and then keep them there with twists, short chapters, and relatable characters. Exactly the same applies to adults.

With six YA books under my belt, I decided I wanted to have a go at screenwriting. My husband and I wrote a sci-fi thriller film together – T.I.M. – about a humanoid A.I. robot that becomes obsessed with its female owner and will do anything it can to take her husband’s place. This was such fun to write, and it was amazing seeing it reach the number one spot on Netflix upon release and then stay in the top ten for three weeks.

It made me realise that I really wanted to write an adult thriller novel next. And the idea for one was starting to dawn on me. I wrote it in a fevered six months and the rest, as they say, is history.

If you get a chance to pick up BELIEVE, I hope you enjoy it reading it at least a tenth of the amount I enjoyed writing it. Thank you!

 © 2025 S.M. Govett

 Read the Shots Review HERE

 More information HERE

Shots Magazine would like to thank Rowland White, Sriya Varadharajan and Gaby Young of Penguin Random House for introducing our readers to this intriguing writer.

 

Elmore Leonard - Penguin Modern Classics

Penguin are delighted to announce the re-release of fourteen books by the legendary American crime writer Elmore Leonard, as part of the hugely successful Penguin Modern Classics Crime series. The first three titles are set to publish on 5th June: fan favourites Swag, The Switch and the brilliant Rum Punch, which spawned Quentin Tarantino’s hit film Jackie Brown. 

Widely regarded as one of the greatest crime writers of all time, Elmore Leonard (1925-2013) began his long and extraordinary career as a writer of Westerns, most famously a story which was made into the film 3:10 To Yuma. He later became known for a remarkable sequence of crime novels, generally set in Michigan or Florida. A master of funny and threatening dialogue, his influence has been incalculable, inspiring numerous successful film and TV series including Jackie Brown, Get Shorty, Out of Sight and Justified. Leonard received the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN US and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

With the centenary of Elmore Leonard’s birth approaching later this year, this is the perfect opportunity to revisit the unmatched brilliance of the king of crime.  

Forthcoming Books from Penguin Random House (Incl Century)

January 

The Woman on the Ledge is by Ruth Mancini. A woman falls to her death from a London bank's twenty-fifth-floor roof terrace. You're arrested for her murder. You tell the police that you only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you talked her down. You've got nothing to do with tragedy. You're clearly being framed. So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? Even your lawyer doesn't seem to believe you. It soon becomes obvious that you're keeping secrets. But who are you trying to protect? And why?

One happy couple. Two divided families. A wedding party to die for. On the private island of Castle Fiore - surrounded by the glittering waters of Lake Garda - the illustrious Heywood family gathers begrudgingly for their son Laurence's wedding to Italian influencer Eva Bianchi. But as the ceremony begins, a blood-curdling scream brings the proceedings to a devastating halt. With the wedding guests trapped as they await the police, old secrets come to light and family rivalries threaten to bubble over. Everyone is desperate to know...Who is the killer? Murder on Lake Garda is by Tom Hindle.

Holmes, Marple and Poe is by James Patterson & Brian Sitts. Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and Auguste Poe run the most in-demand private investigation agency in New York City. The three detectives make a formidable team, solving a series of seemingly impossible crimes - from a priceless art theft and a decades-old unsolved murder, to mysterious disappearances that expose corruption and bribery at the highest levels of power. But it's not long before their headline-grabbing breakthroughs, unconventional methods - and untraceable pasts - attract the attention of the NYPD and the FBI. After all, it's no surprise that there's a mystery or two to unravel in the city that never sleeps . . . not least, who really are Holmes, Margaret and Poe?

February 2024

The List of Suspicious Things is by Jennie Godfrey. Yorkshire, 1979. Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family down South. Because of the murders. Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn't an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv's mum stopped talking. Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all? So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don't. But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families - and between each other - than they ever thought possible. What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

The 24th Hour is by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Trouble is never far away . . . The Women’s Murder Club is out celebrating an engagement at San Francisco’s finest restaurant when a blood-curdling scream interrupts the festivities. They soon discover a young woman who has been the victim of a violent assault. Sergeant Lindsay Boxer makes an arrest. Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano takes the case. But assigning blame is made impossible due to the victim’s chaotic version of events – and the shocking reason behind her ever-changing memory. As Yuki argues the toughest case of her career, Lindsay must chase down a high-society killer whose target practice may leave the Women’s Murder Club short a bridesmaid . . . or two.

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of Lagos and a glamorous group of friends. She left London and a troubled family past behind to become part of a community of expat wives. But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her aunt Claudine flies to Nigeria to take matters into her own hands. As she digs into her niece's life, she uncovers a hidden truth. But the more she finds out about Nicole, the more Claudine's own buried history threatens to come to light. The Lagos Wife is by Vanessa Walters.

The Ghost Orchid is by Jonathan Kellerman. Some secrets are worth killing for. In an upscale Bel Air property, two lovers are found dead in a swimming pool. The man is the playboy heir to a business empire, and the woman is his even wealthier married neighbour. An illicit affair is the perfect motive. But the house is untouched - no forced entry, no forensic evidence - and so LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis and asks psychologist Alex Delaware to help unpick the case. It quickly becomes clear that both victims had troubled pasts. Now Alex and Milo must confront LA's darkest side as they unravel a trail of deadly secrets . . .

How do you catch a killer who leaves no trace? In New York City, a sniper dubbed 'The Longshot Killer' is taking out impossible targets. Nothing links the victims - except the brutal circumstances of their deaths. Detective Michael Bennett quickly develops a profile of the killer. Great with a gun. Probably ex-military. A profile that his new partner, Rob Trilling, fits to a terrifying degree. With Trilling taking ever more suspicious absences from duty, Bennett must find out the truth - before the Longshot Killer strikes again. Crosshairs is by James Patterson and James O Born.

March 2024

Prima Facie is by Suzie Miller. ‘This is not life. This is law.’ Tessa Ensler is a brilliant barrister who's forged her career in criminal defence through sheer determination. Since her days at Cambridge, she’s carefully disguised her working class roots in a male-dominated world where who you know is just as important as what you know. Driven by her belief in the right to a fair trial and a taste for victory, there’s nothing Tessa loves more than the thrill of getting her clients acquitted. It seems like Tessa has it made when she is approached for a new job and nominated for the most prestigious award in her field. But when a date with a charismatic colleague goes horribly wrong, Tessa finds that the rules she’s always played by might not protect her, forcing her to question everything she's ever believed in.

A remote tropical island. Countless dangerous secrets. No way to call help. Missing persons specialist Frankie Elkin is on an isolated island off the coast of Hawaii. Her mission: to find Lani, the missing sister of a Death Row serial killer known as the Beautiful Butcher who is awaiting execution in just three weeks’ time. According to the Beautiful Butcher’s sources, Lani is being held captive by her millionaire ex-boyfriend on the island. The only way to gain access is for Frankie to go undercover. But can Frankie really trust the word of a serial killer? Plus, this island is no paradise with deadly creatures and suspicious co-workers at every turn, and an incoming tropical storm about to cut her off from the outside world. Could this be Frankie Elkin’s most dangerous case yet? Still See You Everywhere is by Lisa Gardner.

No1 Lawyer is by James Patterson and Nancy Allen. Stafford Lee Penney is the best defence lawyer in Mississippi - he's never lost a case. Until now. Hot on the heels of his latest courtroom victory, his wife is brutally murdered. Devastated, Stafford Lee spirals into a losing streak that forces him to abandon his once brilliant career. But his wife's killer is still on the loose and they seem determined to frame Stafford Lee for their crimes. Rising from rock bottom, he makes a bold return to court - to defend himself in the biggest murder trial this town has ever seen. Stafford Lee must crack the toughest case of his career. And this time, it's personal.

April 2024

A Beginner's Fuide to Breaking and Entering is by Andrew Hunter-Murray. Property might be theft. But the housing market is murder. My name is Al. I live in wealthy people's second homes while their real owners are away. I don't rob them, I don't damage anything... I'm more an unofficial house-sitter than an actual criminal. Life is good. Or it was - until last night, when my friends and I broke into the wrong place, on the wrong day, and someone wound up dead. And now... now we’re in a great deal of trouble. Featuring crooked houses, dodgy coppers and a lot of lockpicking, A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering is a gripping thriller about what it's like to be young, skilled, unemployed - and on the run.

Richmond, London. Six attractive houses are tucked away in an exclusive and very upmarket gated community: Riverside Close. Surrounded by flowers and shrubbery, they're sealed off from the busy main road and the realities of urban life. At weekends, with the gate locked, the residents enjoy the sound of birdsong, the whirr of mowers, the occasional snatch of opera through an open window. Everyone knows each other. Everyone gets on. That is, until the Kenworthies arrive. With their four big gas-guzzling cars, their noisy children and their plans to build a swimming pool in their garden, they quickly offend every one of their neighbours. When Charles Kenworthy is found dead on his porch, the bolt of a crossbow through his chest, Daniel Hawthorne is called in. But how do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive? Close to Death is by Anthony Horowitz.

Private Monaco is by James Patterson and Adam Hamdy. The clock is ticking. To save her life you must take another. When Jack Morgan is invited to the luxurious Monaco coast to set up a new Private office, it seems like the perfect opportunity to relax in an iconic destination. But the vacation is quickly cut short when Jack's partner Justine is abducted. The kidnappers send Jack clear instructions - and a gun. If he wants to see the woman he loves again, he must take a life in exchange for hers. Jack soon becomes entangled in a dangerous conspiracy that will come to a head at the Monaco Grand Prix. Hours from disaster, Jack must find Justine and her kidnappers - and put a stop to whatever they have planned next.

May 2024

London, 1833. Doctress Hester Reeves has been offered a life-changing commission. But it comes at a price. She must leave behind her husband and their canal-side home in Kings Cross and move to Tall Trees – a dark and foreboding house in Fitzrovia. If Hester can cure the ailing health of its owner, Gervaise Cherville, she will receive payment that will bring her everything she could dream of. But on arriving at Tall Trees, Hester quickly discovers that an even bigger task awaits her. Now she must unearth secrets that have lain hidden for decades – including one that will leave Hester’s own life forever changed…House of Shades is by Lianne Dillsworth.

'Where is Greg Downing?' Sports Agent Myron Bolitar is in his new office on the top of a skyscraper in New York when two FBI agents ask him this very question. The man they refer to is a top basketball player and Myron's former client and old rival. Greg's DNA, they tell him, has been found at the scene of a high-profile double-murder, and he is now their main suspect. It can't be Greg, Myron tells the two agents: the reason he is Myron's 'former' client is because Greg is dead. He died three years ago of a heart attack. Myron went to his funeral and gave the eulogy. So how can a man who's already dead be wanted for murder? But the closer Myron and his sidekick Win get to the truth about Greg Downing, the more dangerous their world becomes. Secrets, lies, and a murderous conspiracy lie at the heart of Think Twice by Harlan Coben.

June 2024

The Switch is by Lily Samson. Two couples. Elena and Adam are housesitting in Wimbledon and are instantly seduced by their new upscale surroundings. Sophia and Finn are their beautiful, enigmatic neighbours who invite them into their world. One twisted game. When Sophia proposes a wicked game to Elena whereby they will swap partners in secret, it's not long before Elena starts to experience a sexual awakening that blossoms into an illicit love affair. But Sophia's plans are far more complex and dangerous than Elena could ever have imagined.. Who will survive.

When coroner-turned-private investigator Clay Edison is approached to work on a fraud case, he uncovers more than he bargained before: a decades-old scheme targeting the vulnerable. His investigation leads him to a strange town in the remote California wilderness where the residents don't care much for outsiders. They certainly don't like Clay asking questions. And they'll do just about anything to keep him quiet. . .The Lost Coast is by Jonathan and Jessie Kellerman.

The Suspect is b Rob Rinder. When the UK's favourite breakfast TV presenter dies live on air in front of millions of viewers, the nation is left devastated.  More devastated still when it becomes clear that her death was not an accident. The evidence points to one culprit: celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks. But junior barrister Adam Green is about to discover that the case is not as open-and-shut as it first seemed. And although her angelic persona would suggest otherwise, she was not short of enemies in the glittery TV world . . . Can Adam uncover the truth?

Richard and Judy Autumn Book Club Books Announced

Six books, including ones by Janice Hallett, Dinah Jefferies and Greg Hurwitz, have been chosen as Richard and Judy picks for the autumn Book Club, exclusive to W H Smith.

The selection of novels has been curated by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan and range from adventure and thriller to comedy. 

Mystery writer Hallett’s The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels (Viper) features on the list. The book, which Finnegan describes as “creepy and  complicated”, lays out a new story in the author’s “inimitable cosy style of dossiers, emails, texts and recorded phone calls".

Jefferies historical novel Night Train to Marrakech (HarperCollins) has also been picked, making this the author’s third appearance in the Richard and Judy Book Club. The book is set in 1960s Morocco, and Madeley has praised Jeffries for capturing the atmosphere of Marrakech “better than anyone else I have ever read".

This is also the third Book Club nomination for Hurwitz, whose thriller The Last Orphan (Penguin) has also been selected as a book club pick. Meanwhile, Charlotte Levin’s "heart-warming" story If I Let You Go (Mantle) is also on the autumn list, as is The Traitor (Penguin) by former crime reporter and civil servant Ava Glass and We All Want Impossible Things (Doubleday), Catherine Newman’s debut novel about love and friendship. 

The six recommendations in this series are available in W H Smith stores across the UK and online. Moreover, the Richard and Judy Book Club podcast will also be returning for another series on 28th September, providing an introduction to each of the recommended titles from the authors in conversation with Madeley and Finnegan. 

The Traitor by Ava Glass - Extract

I am pleased to host an extract from The Traitor by Ava Glass as part of The Traitor Blog Tour.

He was exhausted. He wanted to keep working but the numbers had begun to swim across the lighted screen, refusing to line up in neat, military rows so he could find the pattern he knew must be hidden among them somewhere.

It was just that he was so close. If he could only stay awake he was certain he’d find what he needed. But it was after two in the morning, and when he closed his eyes and rubbed his knuckles against his forehead he still saw the numbers, burned on his retinas.

He would sleep for a few hours and then start again.

His hands went through the nightly rituals. Turning off the laptop. Flipping it over to remove the battery. Unplugging the Wi-Fi box and router, wrapping each cable neatly behind every device.

It seemed pointless. To be hacked you had to be discovered, and being discovered would mean . . .

He stood abruptly, pushing the chair back so hard it squawked a protest against the wooden floor, and walked away from the things that frightened him. When he crossed the living room, he didn’t have to make a single turn – the apartment held almost no furniture. A sofa, a bed, a chair – that was all he needed. More would be superfluous.

He checked the three locks on the front door and punched the eight-digit code into the alarm. Then he flipped the light switch and the room plunged into darkness. Instantly, he wanted to turn the lights back on again. It took effort to stay in the dark.

The work was making him paranoid. Everywhere he went, he saw shadows following him. All day long he’d felt watched.

Now, the sensation that he was not alone was almost overwhelming.

As he walked the straight line to the bedroom, he reminded himself that nobody could possibly know who he was or where he lived. He’d been careful. By the time he climbed into bed, he almost believed it. When he closed his eyes, he saw the numbers again, floating behind his eyelids like tropical fish.

He had to finish this work before it finished him.

‘Tomorrow. It ends tomorrow.’ He murmured the word aloud, like a promise. 

He could not have been asleep long when a sound shook him awake, and he sat up with a start. In the pitch black, he strained his ears, but all he could hear was his own panicked breathing, quick and harsh.

He thought perhaps he’d dreamed the sound. But then it came again. A soft breath – like a sigh.

The lights came on, blinding him. He flung up a hand to shield his eyes.

There were two of them. One stood by the door next to a large black suitcase. The other leaned over the bed, grinning.

That was when he knew he’d been wrong about everything.

They did know who he was. And what he’d been doing.

And they had come to make him stop.He was exhausted. He wanted to keep working but the numbers had begun to swim across the lighted screen, refusing to line up in neat, military rows so he could find the pattern he knew must be hidden among them somewhere.

It was just that he was so close. If he could only stay awake he was certain he’d find what he needed. But it was after two in the morning, and when he closed his eyes and rubbed his knuckles against his forehead he still saw the numbers, burned on his retinas.

He would sleep for a few hours and then start again.

His hands went through the nightly rituals. Turning off the laptop. Flipping it over to remove the battery. Unplugging the Wi-Fi box and router, wrapping each cable neatly behind every device.

It seemed pointless. To be hacked you had to be discovered, and being discovered would mean . . .

He stood abruptly, pushing the chair back so hard it squawked a protest against the wooden floor, and walked away from the things that frightened him. When he crossed the living room, he didn’t have to make a single turn – the apartment held almost no furniture. A sofa, a bed, a chair – that was all he needed. More would be superfluous.

He checked the three locks on the front door and punched the eight-digit code into the alarm. Then he flipped the light switch and the room plunged into darkness. Instantly, he wanted to turn the lights back on again. It took effort to stay in the dark.

The work was making him paranoid. Everywhere he went, he saw shadows following him. All day long he’d felt watched.

Now, the sensation that he was not alone was almost overwhelming.

As he walked the straight line to the bedroom, he reminded himself that nobody could possibly know who he was or where he lived. He’d been careful. By the time he climbed into bed, he almost believed it. When he closed his eyes, he saw the numbers again, floating behind his eyelids like tropical fish.

He had to finish this work before it finished him.

‘Tomorrow. It ends tomorrow.’ He murmured the word aloud, like a promise. 

He could not have been asleep long when a sound shook him awake, and he sat up with a start. In the pitch black, he strained his ears, but all he could hear was his own panicked breathing, quick and harsh.

He thought perhaps he’d dreamed the sound. But then it came again. A soft breath – like a sigh.

The lights came on, blinding him. He flung up a hand to shield his eyes.

There were two of them. One stood by the door next to a large black suitcase. The other leaned over the bed, grinning.

That was when he knew he’d been wrong about everything.

They did know who he was. And what he’d been doing.

And they had come to make him stop.

The Traitor by Ava Glass (Penguin Random House) Out 14 September 2023

London. Early morning. A body is found in a padlocked suitcase. Investigator Emma Makepeace knows it's murder. And it's personal. She quickly establishes that the dead man had been shadowing two oligarchs suspected of procuring illegal weapons in the UK. And it seems likely that an insider working deep within the British government is helping them. To find out who the traitor is, Emma goes deep undercover on a superyacht owned by one of the oligarchs. But the glamorous veneer of the rich hides dark secrets. Out at sea, Emma is both hunter and prey, and no one can protect her. Never has the turquoise sea and golden sands of the Rivera seemed so dangerous. As the hunt intensifies, Emma knows that she is in mortal danger. And that she needs to find the traitor before they find her . . .

More information about Ava Glass and her work can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @AvaGlassBooks and on Instagram @avaglassbooks.More information about Ava Glass and her work can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @AvaGlassBooks and on Instagram @avaglassbooks.

On Trial with Rob Rinder

 My debut novel, The Trial, is a legal thriller set in the Chambers of London’s Temple District.

The inspiration behind the book was twofold. First and foremost, I wanted to write something that would entertain and provide escapism for readers. And perhaps even more importantly, having practiced law for over twenty years, I wanted to relive my own experiences of the Bar and give readers a real insight into the somewhat closed-off and mysterious world of Chambers – to highlight the murkier aspects of the British legal system, and to explore a question I have never been able to answer fully: ‘What is justice?’.

As the book opens, we become witness to the poisoning of hero policeman, Grant Cliveden, and his shocking death inside the Old Bailey. We then meet Adam Green, a trainee barrister who works on the defence case. All the evidence points to Jimmy Knight, who has been convicted of multiple offences before. But as Adam digs deeper, he realises the case is not as clear-cut as had first been assumed.

The book is, at its heart, a page-turning whodunnit aimed at keeping readers on their toes. And as the narrative unfolds, we are also exposed to the inner workings of the British justice system too. This is done through the eyes of Adam Green, a slightly socially awkward young man from a working-class background. Sitting outside of the usual barrister stereotype, Green must learn to fit in with the glamour of chambers and deal with colleagues whose priorities are not always focussed (to his surprise!) on upholding the highest standards of the law. His pupil master, Jonathan Taylor-Cameron, for example, is often more concerned with pursuing his multiple mistresses than acquitting his clients.

Adam is an echo of my younger self, insofar as he is from a non-traditional legal background and must work tirelessly to prove himself as a worthy member of this new world. He is also discernibly Jewish, and the book is punctuated with telephone calls to his mum who is constantly trying to invade his house and work out why he has not yet married a nice Jewish girl. Through these interactions, we learn about the small cases Adam takes on (including his representation of an 82-year-old sex worker named Gloria), as well as the high-profile trials that come to define his career.

The world I have created is inspired by what I experienced at the Bar – and is intended to be a mirror of what it was like when I first arrived on the law scene, though it has become slightly more serious and professional since I joined.

Revisiting old tales from my time as a junior barrister made writing The Trial a total delight and took me on a wonderful trip down memory lane. I hope I have been able to create an authentic account of what living, and working, within this world looks like.

The Trial was also inspired by one of my favourite writers, John Mortimer, whose brilliant Rumpole series has a special place in my heart. Not only do these books approach the legal system with a sense of warmth and wit, but they are the very thing that encouraged me to train as a lawyer all those years ago. When I began writing The Trial, I knew I wanted to embody Rumpole’s rich tapestry of humour but make it relevant and exciting to a contemporary audience. And, who knows, perhaps it will inspire a budding young student to embark on their own legal career too!

As someone who loves to read, I have been delighted with early reactions to The Trial. What I love the most is that readers feel as though they have been invited into an otherwise alien world that is slightly outside the reach of most people’s understanding. But beyond shining a light on the inner workings of the legal system, readers have responded to themes surrounding class, the “importance” of fitting in and, at the very core of it, the idea of what justice itself really means.

The Trial by Rob Rinder is published by Century on 22 June. £20 Hardback, £9.99 Ebook and £13 Audiobook. 

One murder, one impossible case, who is guilty? When hero policeman Grant Cliveden dies from a poisoning in the Old Bailey, it threatens to shake the country to its core. The evidence points to one man. Jimmy Knight has been convicted of multiple offences before and defending him will be no easy task. Not least because this is trainee barrister Adam Green's first case. But it will quickly become clear that Jimmy Knight is not the only person in Cliveden's past with an axe to grind. The only thing that's certain is that this is a trial which will push Adam - and the justice system itself - to the limit . . .

Hear Rob in conversation about The Trial at one of his events: https://linktr.ee/thetrial 

You can also find him on Twitter @RobbieRinder and on Instagram @robrinder